National News

What the papers say

SNP ministers are waging a "dangerous" campaign to gag university academics from publicly opposing independence, three of Scotland's most eminent professors warned yesterday.

ABOVE-INFLATION RISE IN ENERGY BILLS FOR THE NEXT 17 YEARS

Households face a further 17 years of above-inflation rises for utilities, with the average energy bill due to increase by more than £700, an official audit suggests.

BBC LEAVES TITCHMARSH TO PLOUGH NEW FURROWS

Alan Titchmarsh, the television gardener, will be absent from the BBC's Chelsea Flower Show programmes for the first time in 30 years after the corporation announced changes to its coverage.

City:

WE'RE ON THE PATH TO PROSPERITY, SAYS OSBORNE

George Osborne has said Britain is "on the path to prosperity" and is enjoying a recovery that "very many countries would crave" but warned that it could be scuppered by demands for higher taxes and price controls.

LOWER SUPERMARKET PETROL PRICES FUEL 'SWEET SPOT' FOR UK ECONOMY

The UK economy is hitting a "sweet spot" of accelerating growth and falling inflation, economists said yesterday, after a supermarket petrol price war helped inflation drop to its lowest level in more than a year.

EXPRESS:

COLDEST WINTER FREEZE ON WAY

Britain is set to shiver in a ferocious "Polar plunge" with gales and snow crippling parts of the country.

BRITONS FACE 20 YEARS OF ENERGY BILL MISERY

Millions of households face almost 20 years of rocketing bills to pay for Britain's ageing utility networks, it emerged last night.

I WAS SO OBESE I FEARED I'D BREAK A CHAIR! HOW MUM SHED 17 STONE

A mother shed more than 17 stone after having to miss her son's award ceremony because she was so obese she feared breaking a school chair.

Sport:

YOU'VE ALL GONE SOFT

England's players are too soft and have no chance of winning the World Cup next year in Brazil, according to Barcelona striker Alexis Sanchez.

ENGLAND ROCKED BY INJURY PILE-UP

Stuart Lancaster's options for his team to face New Zealand were reduced to virtually zero last night when prop Alex Corbisiero was followed out of contention by the wings Christian Wade and Marland Yarde.

TIMES:

CITY OF DESPAIR AND DECAY

The presence of the dead is giving everyone the jitters in Tacloban, but more frightening are the faces of the people who survived.

A&E REFORM PLAN SUGGESTS TWO-TIER CARE

Millions of patients will be treated over the phone, at pharmacies or by paramedics under radical plans to fix an emergency system that is "creaking at the seams".

HAWKING: 'THE GOD PARTICLE MAKES PHYSICS LESS INTERESTING'

Finding the Higgs boson has made physics more boring, Stephen Hawking claimed yesterday.

City:

EDF ACCUSED OF BLACKMAIL OVER CALL TO CUT GREEN LEVIES

MPs and energy experts rounded on EDF Energy last night for "blackmailing" the Government after threatening to raise energy bills unless consumer-funded green levies were slashed.

GLOBAL FUND MANAGERS LOAD UP ON UK SHARES

The world's big fund managers are piling into London-listed shares more enthusiastically than at any other time in 11 years, according to a closely watched poll of investor sentiment.

DAILY MAIL:

A SPECTACULAR MISTAKE ON IMMIGRATION

Jack Straw has admitted that throwing open Britain's borders to Eastern European migrants was a "spectacular mistake".

POWER BILLS TO SOAR FOR THE NEXT 17 YEARS

Energy and water bills are set to rise faster than inflation and wages for the next 17 years, the National Audit Office warns today.

The BBC is using licence fee money to cover the legal costs of its controversial £320,000-a-year head of human resources as she pursues possible libel action against a trade union that accused her of "dirty tricks".

THE NEW MODEL ARMIES

The road to Bamako lay wide open. It was only a matter of days, hours even, before fighters linked to al Qaida, who had already taken over most of Mali, took the capital, a triumph for jihad.

THE FUTURE OF A&E: SERIOUS CASES ONLY

The NHS should have a two-tier A&E system and the role of telephone consultations with GPs and nurses should be greatly expanded to take the pressure off casualty wards that are "creaking at the seams", England's top doctor has said, in the biggest proposed shake-up of NHS emergency care since the 1970s.

City:

CONTROVERSY AS VODAFONE BOOKS £18BN CREDIT FROM TAX LOSSES

Vodafone has triggered a fresh controversy over its tax arrangements after claiming a colossal £17.67bn in tax losses that helped its half-year profits rocket.

RBS MAY FACE HUGE NEW BILL OVER LOAN SCANDAL, UKFI SAYS

Royal Bank of Scotland could face another huge bill as a result of a US mortgage trading scandal, bosses of the government agency charged with overseeing taxpayers' interests in banks warned yesterday.

THE GUARDIAN:

TWO-TIER PLAN TO SOLVE CRISIS IN A&E SERVICE

Pans to establish a two-tier accident and emergency service, with specialist expertise in areas such as stroke and trauma concentrated in fewer hospitals, are launched today by NHS England's medical director, who said it is an illusion to suppose all hospitals are as good as each other.

THE VEIL FALLS FOR THE FINAL TIME. TAVENER DIES AT 69

John Tavener, who has died peacefully at 69 at his home, was the single most popular British classical composer of the late 20th and 21st centuries.

SOCIAL CLASS SKILLS KEY TO ELITE UNIVERSITY PLACES

Children with parents in professional or managerial jobs are more than three times more likely to attend a top university than working-class students, even when they have earned the right grades.

City:

CITY SURPRISE AS INFLATION TUMBLES TO 12-MONTH LOW

Inflation has dropped to its lowest rate in more than a year, catching financial markets off guard and reducing the chance that interest rates will rise any time soon.

US COULD BE WORLD'S TOP OIL PRODUCER BY 2015

The United States will surpass Saudi Arabia and Russia as the world's top oil producer by 2015, according to a report published by the International Energy Agency yesterday - with significant implications for industry and manufacturing in the coming years.

i:

SUPERMARKETS ATTACKED BY THE POLITICAL PRINCE

Prince Charles has accused the big supermarkets and their shareholders of profiting from Britain's farmers while taking on "none of the risk" of dealing with the rollercoaster economics of food production.

ENERGY PRICES RISE TO ABOVE INFLATION UNTIL 2030

Gas, electricity and water bills will continue to rise by more than inflation for another 17 years, the public spending watchdog has warned.

TAXPAYERS FOOT BILL FOR BBC BOSS WHO SIGNED BIG PAY-OFFS

The BBC is using licence-fee money to cover the legal costs of its £320,000-a-year head of human resources as she pursues possible libel action against a trade union that accused her of "dirty tricks".

City:

VODAFONE IN FRESH ROW AS TAX LOSSES IN LUXEMBOURG HELP PROFITS SOAR

Vodafone has triggered a fresh controversy over its tax arrangements after claiming a £17.67bn in tax losses that helped its half-year profits soar.

FIXING 'WALKIE SCORCHIE' WILL COST DEVELOPERS MILLIONS

Developers face a multimillion-pound bill for fixing the Walkie-Talkie skyscraper's heat-ray effect, which melted cars in the City over the summer, Land Securities chief executive Rob Noel said.

FINANCIAL TIMES:

FOREX PROBE WIDENS TO AT LEAST 15 BIG BANKS

The global probe into foreign exchange manipulation has widened to include 15 of the biggest banks and some of the most actively traded currencies, as lenders scramble to help authorities in exchange for leniency.

China's ruling Communist party pledged a "decisive" role for the market as it outlined sweeping reforms at the close of a conclave intended to map China's direction for the next decade.

LUCK OF THE IRISH IS BANK OF ENGLAND CHIEF'S PASSPORT TO TEMPERING SCOURGE OF INFLATION

Since his arrival as governor of the Bank of England in July Mark Carney has had the luck of the Irish, enjoying rising growth, falling unemployment and rapidly moderating inflation.

Companies and markets:

US AIR DEAL CLEARED FOR TAKE-OFF

US Airways expects to go ahead with its 11 billion US dollars takeover of American Airlines' bankrupt parent company as early as next month, after the pair agreed a series of divestments to settle an anti-trust case that threatened to scupper the deal.

GOLDMAN BET LOOKS BEYOND HEDGE FUND GLOOM

Goldman Sachs is betting that the hedge fund industry can attract more investors despite its recent poor record - by raising money for a second incarnation of one of its highest-profile investment vehicles, Petershill.

THE SUN:

CHILDREN OF THE TYPHOON

A child's tortured face shows the pain caused by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines yesterday

VIEWERS EXODUS

Simon Cowell's American X Factor dreams lie in ruins after the show pulled in a woeful 3.6 million viewers.

DRUG RUN TO SCHOOL RUN

A convicted drug dealer does the school run yesterday - after attempts to throw him out of Britain failed because it would "breach his human rights".

Sport:

MANCINI IN TERRY SWOOP

John Terry is wanted by Roberto Mancini at Turkish giants Galatasaray.

UTD DUO OP BLOW

Michael Carrick and Danny Welbeck are facing operations which would rule the Manchester United pair out until the New Year.